Helston Town Council has voted through a rise of more than £100,000 on its council tax precept despite a last minute attempt to stymie it.

It means that for the 2019/20 financial year, the council will be asking Cornwall Council for £468,170 of the overall tax bill.

New provisional council tax base rates show that this would result in a Band D council tax payment of £133.18 towards the town council precept.

As previously reported, the £104,280 increase is to cover some specific projects the council wants to take on - in particular employing two further grounds maintenance workers, bringing the total to three, with a view to taking full control of the town's upkeep, including parks, road roundabouts and hopefully also verges in the future.

The other big difference in the budget is that the community grants budget will be increased from £8,000 to £20,000 to allow larger grants, where appropriate, for the town's community groups and organisations that apply twice-yearly, or to help more people.

Earlier in the meeting, however, members were pleaded with by former town councillor Keith Reynolds to reconsider, saying: "That, in my view, is an enormous increase and falls on the town people who struggle to pay their rents at the moment in Helston."

He questioned whether some of the work that would be taken on by the new maintenance people was in fact work Cornwall Council had a statutory duty to provide - and therefore the public were already paying for through their council tax.

Mayor John Martin said the county authority's statutory responsibilities had been quartered in the last two years and said: "In light of that we have to compensate, even to stand still. We are looking at being sustainable."

But Mr Reynolds argued: "If it's a statutory responsibility it means the rate payers of Helston are being double taxed."

He asked members to reconsider the budget and if they "actually need to spend all this money."

Councillor Ron Edgcumbe called for the council to vote against the rise and and send it back to the finance committee to look at it again. This was seconded by councillor Ronnie Williams, but did not find the support of other members.

Instead, they voted nine to two in favour of passing the budget as set out, with Mr Edgcumbe and Mr Williams voting against.

Councillor Mike Thomas said: "The policy, finance and resources group spent a long time going through this very, very carefully. Comparing us to other towns in the area we have, over time, under-invested in this town.

"I take on board the point of double taxation but I see this as a positive move for the town. Now with the chance to move forward we can really make a difference to this town."